


he loves me, he loves me not

by ProfessionalMess



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Soulmate AU, both of them are idiots, but a weird one i guess, flower shop au, shiro owns a flower shop, soft and pure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-04-23 02:25:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19141687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProfessionalMess/pseuds/ProfessionalMess
Summary: "Ever since he was a little kid, he wanted to explore the ocean. Since his family had lived close to the beach and went as often as they could, the ocean had been one of the first things to capture Matt’s attention and one of the only things to hold it. He was fascinated with the possibilities, amazed by all the things humans didn’t know, enraptured by all the secrets just waiting to be discovered. He wanted to be someone who made a discovery, a person that came to the surface with a breakthrough, and he’d been waiting his entire life for the chance to do it.And now, a fresh college graduate with a shiny diploma that dubbed him an official marine biologist among other things Matt didn’t find himself rushing into the field."--aka a soulmate au where everyone has a tattoo of their soulmate's favorite thing and some kind of way the universe leads them to each other





	he loves me, he loves me not

**Author's Note:**

> this is for the shatt big bang! i had so much fun writing it and i hope u enjoy

Matt’s parents were furious with him, understandably. 

 

Ever since he was a little kid, he wanted to explore the ocean. Since his family had lived close to the beach and went as often as they could, the ocean had been one of the first things to capture Matt’s attention and one of the only things to hold it. He was fascinated with the possibilities, amazed by all the things humans didn’t know, enraptured by all the secrets just waiting to be discovered. He wanted to be someone who made a discovery, a person that came to the surface with a breakthrough, and he’d been waiting his entire life for the chance to do it. 

 

And now, a fresh college graduate with a shiny diploma that dubbed him an official marine biologist among other things Matt didn’t find himself rushing into the field. 

 

It wasn’t that he had changed his mind or anything like that. He still held the ocean deep in his heart, was still enamored with it in a way he’d never been attracted to anything else before. However, he had this tiny tug that came from the same place, a tiny tugging feeling that was telling him to wait, to slow down, to take a look around. 

 

When he tried to explain to his parents why he wasn’t already sending in applications and compiling his resume, they didn’t really understand. He’d just spent so much time and money on earning a degree to do the thing he’d been so incredibly impatient to do, and now he was saying he wanted to take a while to “explore”? He knew it sounded crazy and he knew it didn’t make any sense, but the tug was there, deep down in the same place that had never led him astray. 

 

So no matter what his parents understood, no matter what  _ he _ understood, even, when the tug made its next siren call, Matt decided to follow. 

 

He couldn’t decide if the tug was a mental thing or a real ass physical thing, some sensation in his chest acting as a compass trying to lead him in a certain direction, but he figured it didn’t really matter. He’d been spending so much time focusing on college the past few years that it’d been a long time since he actually took a moment to stop and look at the world around him, and he couldn’t deny that it felt nice. School had been like the rapids of a river, always working and fighting and speeding towards some unknown destination on the horizon. But now it was like he’d fallen over the edge of the waterfall and reached the point of no return, and the world was calm and quiet and smooth, nothing more than an expansive pool for him to paddle around in and explore. 

 

So Matt got up one morning and put on his clothes and decided to do just that. 

 

He bid his parents and his little sister goodbye as he stepped out of the house, deciding to make his journey on foot rather than taking his car. Maybe he really was going crazy and he was making this entire thing up as some sort of stress-born hallucination, but he had the distinct feeling that he was supposed to go out into the world with nothing but himself and take the time to look around and connect with the streets of his city, rather than drive around in search of his destination. 

 

The tug wasn’t some constant thing that he could follow like a line on a map, so he set out into town mostly blind, trying to remember where it had last told him to go. It was about mid-morning on a Tuesday so the streets were more empty than full, but it didn’t bother him. He actually preferred the slightly eerie barrenness, since it meant he could wander aimlessly and gaze at the buildings towering on either side of him without being in anyone’s way. Every so often he’d feel the tug pulling at that place deep in his chest, and he’d veer off in one direction or another without thinking much of it, following the path that someone had chosen for him. 

 

The longer he walked, the more aware he became of just how little of his city he was familiar with. He caught himself noticing restaurants and stores he had never seen before, mere blocks away from the house he’d lived in all his life. It was a shocking kind of ignorance that he couldn’t only attribute to his busy days in college, and he wasn’t quite sure why he’d never taken the time to get a closer look. There were so many interesting little shops and stores that he would have surely been diving into if not periodically reminded of his end goal by that feeling in his chest. He could look and see and explore for now, and then come back again for visits later. 

 

The farther he wandered from home, the stronger the tug became. It was so intense that he almost felt the need to put his hand to his chest, as if his heart was going to beat right out of it. He was distracted, worrying over how strong it was going to be when he finally arrived at his final destination, and he almost didn’t notice when his feet brought themselves to a stop of their own accord and the tug settled into a distant ache. He found himself standing in front of the entrance to a small flower shop, situated almost directly in the middle of the street he’d been walking down. From what he could see through the front glass, the store was full and inviting, although he couldn’t see any other people inside. 

 

The flower tattooed on his left shoulder blade began to tingle as he reached for the handle and tugged open the door, but he didn’t take much note of it as the rest of his skin followed close behind. He figured it had something to do with the intense aroma of flowers that surrounded him as soon as he stepped inside, a soft bell ringing above his head. The store was small and softly lit, filled to the brim with flowers of every kind and color. There was also a variety of decorations and vases and small garden ornaments with nature puns that made Matt smile. It was cute and calm and relaxing, and the tug had all but completely subsided. This was where he was supposed to be. 

 

He was startled out of his thoughts when a man came bustling around a corner that led into the back of the shop, holding a planter of flowers to his hip as he muttered to himself under his breath. It was clear he had no idea Matt was there, and he felt heat rising to his cheeks as he allowed himself a few moments to inspect the man in front of him, taking notice of just how…  _ attractive _ he was. He was muscled and tall and had a jawline that Matt could probably cut himself on, but he was somehow kind-looking and friendly at the same time. He figured it might have had something to do with the fact that he worked at a flower shop, and he wasn’t sure that he would’ve made the same observation had he run into him on the street, but it took a considerable edge off the nerves when the man finally looked up and noticed Matt loitering motionlessly in front of the door. 

 

“Oh!” he said, jostling the leaves of the plants held against his hip as he jumped. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t hear you come in.”

 

His voice was low and smooth and soft and surrounded Matt like a blanket fresh from the dryer, and he felt the heat threaten to return to his cheeks as he was forced to acknowledge just how beautiful this man was. His body looked to be carved from stone and he was almost a head taller than Matt himself was, but the smile he gave him as he struggled to respond was bright enough to make Matt go blind. Matt took a closer look and realized that one of the man’s hands was different than the other, shiny and metallic rather than fleshy and human, and it definitely added considerably to the badass vibe he seemed very capable of putting off. However, the sight of him in front of a backdrop of flowers was enough to take him down from intimidating to adorable, and Matt didn’t feel threatened. Surely a man that worked at a flower shop wasn’t a poorly-timed look away from beating his ass. 

 

Matt was already struggling to understand how someone like this could exist, and he’d been face-to-face with him for what had to be less than two minutes. 

 

He cleared his throat when he realized an awkward amount of time had passed without him saying anything, shuffling his feet against the floor as he searched for something to say. “Oh, um… It’s okay.” 

 

The man smiled and continued over to the counter, sliding the tray of flowers up to rest on top. “Is there anything I can help you with? Something you’re looking for, maybe?” 

 

Matt really had no reason to give him for coming inside. He couldn’t explain the feeling he’d had in his chest that had guided him here to  _ himself _ , let alone to a random stranger. It was really better that he didn’t even try. However, that meant he had to come up with something else.

 

“Uh... my mom,” Matt said eventually, hoping he didn’t sound as unsure as he felt. “Her birthday is soon.”

 

“Aww, that’s sweet,” he said, fixing Matt with a smile that was equally so. “Do you know what she likes? I can help you find what you’re looking for.”

 

Matt racked his brain for the slightest bit of information that could tell him his mother’s favorite flower, but came up severely short and instead blurted out the first flower he could think of. “Uh, lilies. I think. Yeah. Lilies.” 

 

“And do you know what kind?” he continued, gesturing at Matt to follow him as he headed deeper into the store. Matt skimmed the aisles as he went by, momentarily distracted from the question he was supposed to be answering by the rows upon rows of flowers that lined the shelves as they walked past. 

 

“Um, there are different kinds?” Matt said, refocusing on the conversation with a jolt after realizing it had probably, again, been an awkward amount of time since the employee had spoken to him.

 

Said employee gave him a warm laugh as he came to a stop in front of a wall of different but similar-looking flowers, labeled clearly as lilies by a cursive sign hung nearby. He definitely could’ve found them by himself with a little nudge in the right direction, but based on the eerily empty aisles surrounding them, Matt wasn’t sure the man had much else to be doing. Matt eyed the wall with interest, trying to identify the different kinds. They all looked the same to him, but there sure were… a lot of choices. “Yeah, but it’s perfectly okay if you don’t know. They’re all beautiful, and I’m sure your mom will appreciate the gesture no matter what.”

 

Right, his mom. The lilies he was buying for his mom’s birthday that was more than six months away, because apparently lying to strangers was something he did now. Plus, he’d had to lie to his mom, too, because she’d never believe he went out and bought her flowers out of the kindness of his heart. Damn his being a bad son. 

 

“Yeah, I think she will,” Matt mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as he scanned the wall again. There were literally so fucking many. How was this possible? The employee seemed to be hesitating at Matt’s side, unsure if he needed any more help or if he could handle it from there. Matt decided to throw him a bone, since it as his fault he’d walked into this stupid store in the first place, and tacked on to his sentence, giving the man a small smile. “But… can you show me the different kinds anyway? Maybe I can figure out which ones she likes best.”

 

The man’s (Shiro, Matt learned after stealing a quick glance at the tiny name tag hanging from his adorable floral apron) face lit up at the request, followed by him taking a step closer to the wall and clearing his throat a little, as if he was about to give a presentation. And judging by the passionate look that settled onto his features, maybe he was.

 

“There are 8 basic types,” Shiro began, gesturing towards the wall with his flesh hand. “Asiatic, Oriental, Trumpet, Orienpet, LA Hybrid, Turk’s Cap, Canada, and Longiflorium. You don’t need to know much about them since you’re putting them in a bouquet rather than planting them, so I’ll stick to the basics.” He then went on to explain the cosmetic and aromatic pros and cons of each type in detail, his voice taking on a curious quality that Matt could recognize but couldn’t name. He fell into a sort of trance listening to him, uncaring that he didn’t care about nor retain most of the things being told to him. That  _ thing _ in Shiro’s voice kept him hooked, kept him interested, far beyond the limits of his actual investment. With anyone else, Matt was sure he would’ve been content to take a handful, slap some money on the counter and be done, but something about Shiro was keeping him there, asking for more. 

 

It wasn’t until Shiro looked at him sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck shyly as he murmured out an embarrassed apology, that Matt realized what that  _ thing _ in Shiro’s voice had been. Matt had found himself in that same situation more times than he could count, started off on a tangent about the ocean that had been encouraged by a single innocent comment only to realize sometime later how long he’d been taking and how little his audience cared. The hitch in Shiro’s voice that kept him so interested, so  _ intrigued, _ was passion. Matt could never allow himself to make someone feel guilty for having passion.

 

“You don’t have to apologize,” Matt said firmly, shaking his head as he gave Shiro a friendly smile. “It was nice listening to you talk.” 

 

Shiro only flushed a deeper shade of red but he didn’t look as ashamed as he had before, so Matt counted it as a win. “Still, I’m sure you probably have other places to be. Let me get these wrapped up for you.” He grabbed a handful of stems and pulled them out of the display container, turning back towards the front of the store with the flowers in hand. “What’s your mom’s favorite color?”

 

“Uh, yellow,” Matt said. That, at least, he knew. Shiro nodded and continued around to the other side of the counter as Matt came to a stop in front of it, setting the flowers carefully on the surface before leaning over to grab a plastic wrap and some yellow tissue paper and ribbon. He went about tying them up and making them look pretty, much faster than Matt would’ve been able to manage, and was handing them across the counter before Matt could really blink. 

 

He hurriedly fished his wallet out of his pocket, not even bothering to ask how much this was going to cost him, figuring he was too deep in his lie to pull out now. He was going to buy these flowers, if only to cover his own pasty white ass. 

 

Once he had paid and had the flowers in hand and officially had no other reason to be inside the shop, he nodded once to Shiro in parting before awkwardly turning around and leaving, hearing Shiro call, “Come again soon!” behind him as he held the flowers to his chest. His chest, which, as soon as he stepped foot back on the sidewalk, started to ache again in that familiar way he’d missed during his time inside. 

 

So clearly, whatever higher being was attempting to communicate with him wanted him to be there, but Matt didn’t know what it  _ meant. _ There was nothing overly spectacular about the tiny flower shop, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that caught the eye—especially if the amount of people inside was anything to go off of. Matt hadn’t even know it was there, and he had to have passed it at least twenty times just in the past week. So why did that  _ feeling _ in his chest want him to go so bad? What was drawing him there? What was he supposed to do with this useless information?

 

He thought about it the entire way home, but by the time he arrived he was no closer to an answer  _ and  _ he hadn’t come up with an excuse as to why he came bearing a bouquet of his mother’s definitely not favorite flowers.    
  


True to his fears, his little sister gave him a look as soon as he stepped inside the house, raising her eyebrow. “Why do you have flowers?”

 

“They’re for mom,” Matt said confidently, trying to sound like their purchase hadn’t been a completely idiotic mistake on his part. 

 

Pidge didn’t seem to buy it, still staring at him. “Really? Why?”

 

Matt shrugged, moving into the kitchen to find a vase to put them in. “I thought she deserved something nice.”

 

Pidge let out a snort at that, which was enough for Matt to know he’d ruined any chance of convincing her. “Shove it up your ass, Matt. You’ve never done a nice thing in your life.” 

 

* * *

 

Matt did come again, and it was pretty soon after his first visit. He just… didn’t go inside. He really didn’t need anymore flowers, and the ones he’d been tricked into buying last time had been expensive, but that annoying fucking pull in his chest kept him coming back, again and again. 

 

So he spent his days walking down to the shop and walking past it, seeing the same thing every time: Shiro, hard at work, and the rest of the shop quiet, empty, peaceful. He’d never seen anyone else but Shiro inside, and he’d gone by every different time of day he could manage. It was always just him, slaving happily away in the isolated oasis of the flower shop that intrigued Matt almost as much as the pesky ache in his chest that only seem to grow worse the longer he spent away. 

 

And it was while Matt was contemplating this, getting ready to walk by for what had to be at least the fifth time, that he had the best idea he’d ever had in his entire life. 

 

Something clearly wanted Matt to be in that flower shop, and neither he or his wallet needed to be buying flowers every time he decided to step inside, and Shiro appeared to be the only one who ever worked there, so Matt would just march inside and ask Shiro to give him a job. It was a win-win-win, really, and he couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it sooner. 

 

So this time, instead of walking past the shop and simply glancing inside, Matt stopped in front of the doors and pulled them open, visibly startling Shiro where he was organizing seed packets, sat cross-legged on the floor. 

 

“Oh!” he said, clearly surprised to see Matt again. Or maybe just surprised to see any customer at all.

 

“Hey,” Matt greeted with an awkward wave, grimacing at himself. “It’s me again.” 

 

“Good to see you!” Shiro said, standing up and brushing the dust off his pants. He said it in a way that made Matt feel as if his words were genuine, not just empty small talk made for the sake of being polite. “Is there something I can help you with?”

 

Matt almost forgot why he had come inside again, almost panicked and asked for  _ more fucking liles, _ but he caught himself and forced himself to take a breath and nodded. “Yeah, uh… I was wondering if maybe I could apply for a job here…?”

 

Shiro stared at him for a moment, eyes a little wider than usual, clearly surprised yet again. He regained his composure quickly, however, his features melting into a wide grin. “Yeah! Yeah. Um… You really want to?”

 

Matt didn’t hesitate before nodding, a strange sort of warmth spreading through him at how visibly happy the suggestion had made him. “Yeah, I really do. I think it’d be cool, and uh… you look like you could use the help.”

 

“Yeah,” Shiro said with an awkward laugh, brushing his fingers through his hair as he ducked his head a little. “I’m the only one that’s ever worked here. I don’t even think I have an application, actually…”

 

“Do you own this place, then, or does the owner just really trust you?” Matt asked, smiling at him.

 

“No, no, I own it,” Shiro laughed. “Little bit of a passion project, I guess.” Matt tilted his head curiously, following Shiro as he moved to stand behind the counter, fiddling with a stack of loose papers strewn across the surface. Matt didn’t really know what he meant by that and he figured it’d be rude to ask, but Shiro continued on his own, settling on a stool place behind him. He gestured to his arm, the metallic one, a rue-looking smile on his face as he spoke. “I went into the military, straight out of high school. Didn’t plan on going to college, didn’t plan on really ever having a job. I was gonna join the military and ride it out for as long as I could, see where it took me. But, it turned out that I didn’t stay very long, and it ended up taking me to a hospital room and an emergency surgery to amputate my arm. So, after all that… I figured I’d just spend my time doing something I enjoy, and ended up here.”

 

“How come you do it on your own?” Matt asked, frowning. “Don’t you make enough to hire someone?”

 

“Sure, sure,” Shiro said, shrugging. “I make enough. I just never really thought about it, I guess. It’s never felt like I needed the help, and no one’s ever asked before you, so. My best friend comes by and helps out sometimes, but he certainly doesn’t enjoy it. I think he just feels bad for me.” 

 

“Well, if you don’t want help…” Matt trailed off, biting his lip. Maybe his idea hadn’t been as ingenious as he thought.

 

“No, no, I do,” Shiro said, shaking his head quickly as he gave Matt a reassuring smile. “I do. It’ll be nice to have someone around.”

 

Matt gave him a smile in return, the tension draining from his shoulders in response. He hadn’t realized how stressed he’d gotten over the mere implication that Shiro didn’t want to hire him, and he was kind of embarrassed, especially since he couldn’t say he even really  _ wanted  _ the job. He just wanted a way to figure out what exactly his purpose for being drawn there was, and this was the best solution. 

 

Hopefully he wouldn’t make it a habit to lie to Shiro every time he came.

 

Shiro grabbed his mouse and clicked around on his computer a few times, frowning. “Yeah, I definitely don’t have an application for you, but… I’m comfortable with just giving you the job, if that’s okay with you.”

 

“Oh!” Matt said, surprised. He hadn’t thought it would be that easy. “Yeah, that sounds great!”

 

“Okay, fantastic,” Shiro said, smiling. “Since you’re the only employee, I’m not really gonna set any rules or guidelines. You can just kind of… come in whenever you want to or are able, and I’ll teach you the ropes as we go.”

 

Matt couldn’t help but grin as he nodded his agreement. This was certainly the strangest job he’d ever had. “Okay, cool. Um… Can we start now?”

 

“Yeah!” Shiro smiled, standing up again as he walked towards the same back room he’d emerged from the first time Matt had visited. “Let me just pop in the back and see if I have a spare apron…”

 

Matt took the time to look around the store while Shiro disappeared into the back room, trying to get a better feel for the layout. He couldn’t really see where the store ended due to the sheer amount of plants and shelves and leaves, but he could tell at least that it wasn’t overly large. It was decently sized, he supposed, especially if Shiro was running the whole place on his own. It was cozy, definitely, and calm, more peaceful and serene than most stores Matt had ever been in. And it smelled good, which he supposed was a guaranteed plus when you worked at a flower shop. It was just… nice, and Matt could see himself enjoying his time working here. 

 

Shiro reappeared a few moments later with a triumphant smile and a floral apron, one similar to Shiro’s but not an exact match. Matt grinned as he accepted it from him, slipping it over his head and tying it around the back, already feeling a million times more official. “Alright,” he said once it was secured, turning his grin on Shiro. “What’s first?” 

 

“Well, it depends,” Shiro said, shrugging. “Do you wanna start with the fun stuff or the technical stuff?”

 

“The fun stuff, duh,” Matt said, giving him a look. Shiro chuckled and nodded, gesturing for Matt to follow as he led him deeper into the store. 

 

The fun stuff, as it turned out, was awful. It was nothing but organizing planters, watering flowers, picking out wilting buds and tossing them in a bucket to be gotten rid of, and putting out the new shipments of plants Shiro received in the proper place. Aka, not fun in the slightest. It was  _ manual labor,  _ which Matt supposed he should have expected out of a job. But Shiro seemed to enjoy it, like, get a genuine thrill from it, which Matt just didn’t understand. But it was nice to watch him, nice to see the bright smile on his face as he showed Matt how to determine whether a plant was dying and unrecoverable or dying but simply in need of different care. Matt couldn’t give less of a shit about any of it, but seeing that Shiro had a passion for it made it worth it, almost. 

 

The actual fun stuff for Matt turned out to be the part that Shiro hated, which Matt supposed worked out pretty well. Matt had never used one before, but cash registers were absolutely magical, and Matt found himself giggling as he pressed all the buttons and listened to the beeps and learned how everything worked. Given the popularity of Shiro’s business he probably wouldn’t get to use the register all that often, but it would still be an honor every time he did. 

 

The more Shiro showed Matt around and taught him the ropes, the more Matt realized that Shiro hated every business aspect of owning a business and really only enjoyed working with the plants, so they struck a deal. Matt would handle the business things; ordering new plants, balancing the books, checking customers out, things like that, and Shiro would handle all the plant things like helping customers find what they needed and taking care of the merchandise. 

 

All and all, Matt’s new job didn’t seem all that bad. 

 

Because not only was he discovering how much fun it was to help run a business and make sure everything was running smoothly, but he also got to spend as much of his day with Shiro as he wanted, and that made it worth it more than anything else. 

 

Shiro was so sweet and adorable and kind and hardworking and the passion for what he did was constantly overflowing and spilling onto Matt, making him feel a thousand times more excited for this job than he would have otherwise. Shiro was just plain infectious, and Matt couldn’t help but feel the affects. It was getting dangerous, almost, just in the few hours he’d spent being led around. His eyes kept drifting to Shiro without him even realizing, watching him as he worked or spoke or did anything, really. Matt was just… constantly watching, constantly observing, constantly giving Shiro all his attention, which he didn’t quite know what to do with. 

 

By the time his mom had officially gotten worried and was sending him text after text, asking him where he was and if he was coming home for dinner and if he had gotten hit by a car, Matt was almost positive he’d memorized every single detail of Shiro’s face and could draw it on a piece of paper with his eyes closed. It was a kind of surprisingly unsurprising realization, and he kept thinking about it, tossing it over and over in his head as he said goodbye to Shiro and promised to see him the next day, hanging his apron on a hook in the back before stepping out onto the street and heading towards home. 

 

In the span of a handful of hours, Shiro had managed to unknowingly wrap Matt around all ten of his fingers tighter than Matt even thought possible. All he could think about was waking up the next morning and going back to that tiny, quiet shop, seeing Shiro’s face and watching him as he lovingly cared for every flower petal in that place, caring less about making money and more about offering something that could make people happy, change their days and change their relationships and change their lives. 

 

Shiro was… unlike anyone Matt had ever met in his entire life, and although he’d somehow been tricked into getting a job and that annoying itch was still ever present in the depths of his chest, Matt found that he wasn’t upset about any of it. 

 

* * *

 

Something about that damn flower shop had turned Matt into a liar. 

 

As far as his parents understood it, Matt was actively searching for a job in the marine biology field, looking for some grand position and a well-reviewed company to hire him. But in reality, Matt was spending his days, almost two week’s worth of them now, working alongside Shiro, earning probably less than minimum wage and utilizing approximately none of the knowledge he’d gone to school for. 

 

And because he was doing this and his parents would take his life if they knew, he was constantly coming up with excuses and stories for why he was always gone, why he hadn’t been hired yet, why he always came home covered in dirt and smelling like flowers. In his opinion the things he came up were never convincing, never made quite enough sense, but his parents always let it slide, didn’t question it any further. 

 

Until now, apparently.

 

“Matt?” his mom called from the kitchen as he crept down the hall, coming to a stop and cringing the second he heard her voice. 

 

“Yeah?” Matt called back, head craned to the side so he could listen carefully.

 

“Where are you going? It’s barely seven in the morning.”

 

Matt continued down the hall until he could poke his head around the open door frame, getting an eyeful of his mom standing in the middle of the kitchen with her hip resting against the island, her arms crossed over her chest as she eyed him down with a suspiciously curious stare. Matt was fully aware of what time it was, considering the shop opened at seven thirty and Matt always liked to be there right on time, but unless he could convince his mom to let him go fairly quickly, he was probably going to be late today. 

 

“I’m, uh… going to the farmer’s market. I’m craving some fresh kale.”

 

“The farmer’s market is only open on Saturday, Matt,” his mother said, her eyes narrowing.

 

“Oh,” Matt replied, trying to sound like this news surprised him. That was what he got for using the first excuse that came to mind. “Well, I guess I’ll just go walk around town, then, since I’m already up.” 

 

“Walk around and do what?” she asked, tilting her head in a way that made Matt sweat.

 

“Oh, you know. See stuff. Do things,” Matt shrugged, swallowing nervously.

 

“Where are you really going, Matthew? Just tell me,” she said, the unimpressed note in her voice really coming through strong. The flower shop may have turned him into a liar, but he never claimed to be a good one. 

 

So really, in his current situation, he had two options. He could either try to come up with another clever,  _ clever _ lie and see if his mom bought it (doubtful), or he could sprinkle in a little truth and see where it got him. And the truth thing was really looking like his best option at the moment, because he knew from experience that the longer he lied to his mom the harder it was to keep it up, and the more fire she’d breathe when the truth finally came out. 

 

“I’m going to work,” Matt said, trying to sound like he was begrudgingly exposing some huge secret. And of course, in a way he was, but not the secret he was truly desperate to keep. He was fine with her knowing he had a job, as long as she never found out what his job really was. 

 

“A job? You got a job?” she asked, the suspicion immediately melting off her face, replace with an amount of sheer joy that was genuinely surprising. Did they really want him to get a job  _ that _ bad? Apparently the answer was a resounding yes. 

 

“Yeah,” Matt nodded. “I’ve got an internship at a… a really good company.”

 

“What’s the name of the company?” his mother asked, clasping her hands in front of her excitedly. Now, this wasn’t her being suspicious, just genuinely excited. But it still fucked Matt over all the same, because he had absolutely no clue what to say. He didn’t know the names of any companies in town that dealt with marine biology, and if he made something up his parents would 100% do research and find out he was full of shit. 

 

But it didn’t matter, anyway. He must have hesitated a second too long, because before he could even make a decision on what he was going to say his mother’s excited expression was falling, replaced once again by bone-chilling suspicion. 

 

“Uhhh,” Matt said anyway, probably definitely digging himself a deeper hole to be buried in. 

 

“You have an internship at a company but you don’t know the name of it?” And there, that was the voice. The voice that said Matt was in some  _ deep _ shit if he didn’t come clean in the next five seconds. And it didn’t matter that he was nearly twenty-two, didn’t matter that he was a fucking college graduate, because he was still living in his mother’s house and he was still terrified of her. So he took a deep breath and tried to assemble some semblance of a cohesive story in his head, just hoping it didn’t take too long so he could finally fucking get to work. 

 

“Fine. I do have a job, it’s just not… it’s not a biology job.” 

 

“It’s… What? Why not?” 

 

Matt moved further into the kitchen and sat down on one of the stools on the other side of the island, across from where his mother was standing. She looked tired and soft in the gentle morning light streaming through the window above the sink to their right, and Matt almost opened his mouth and told her to get more sleep, to go back to bed. The rest of the house was quiet, still, asleep. There was no reason for her to be up this early. But she cleared her throat and brought his attention back to the conversation at hand, and he let out a sigh before trying his best to explain it all to her. 

 

“I told you and dad I didn’t want to go into marine biology immediately, right? That I wanted to take a little time to explore first? And you guys thought I was crazy?”

 

“Right,” his mother nodded, crossing her hands in front of her on the counter as she gave Matt a look. “Still do.”

 

“Right,” Matt repeated, giving her a nod of his own. “So. I decided to do that because of this… thing.” 

 

“This thing?” she asked incredulously, raising her eyebrow at him. “You’re going to have to give me a bit more than that, Matthew.” 

 

“This  _ thing,”  _ he said again, trying to find the words to explain it. “In my chest. This… feeling. Like a tug, almost, deep in the middle of my chest. As soon as I finished school it just started… pulling and pulling and pulling and it was really hard to ignore. So I wanted to take a little bit of time to figure it out, and… I found something.” 

 

His mom looked a lot more interested now, her face giving away her curiosity as she came around the island and sat on the stool next to him. “What did you find?” 

 

“This shop,” Matt said, letting out a small laugh. “This tiny, desolate little flower shop a few streets away. I didn’t even know it was there, but I was walking around one day trying to follow the tug and when I passed it I just… I had to stop. So I went inside and panicked and ended up telling the only guy working there that I was there to get flowers for my mom’s birthday so I didn’t seem crazy trying to explain the whole tugging thing.”

 

“Is that why you brought those flowers home a few weeks ago?” his mother laughed, her skin crinkling around the edges of her smile.

 

“Yeah,” Matt nodded, laughing softly himself. “I didn’t want to explain it to you guys, either, so I just kind of left them on the counter. But anyway, as soon as I left the shop again that first time, the tuggy, pully feeling came back, so a few days later I went back again, and I told that same employee guy that I wanted a job. That way I could figure out what the feeling was all about but not have to buy flowers every time I came in, you know? And I learned that the guy’s name is Shiro and he owns the shop and he’s the only one who works there, except I do too, now, and he’s really passionate about flowers and plants but hates doing all the actual business-y stuff, so we made a deal where he handles all the flower stuff and I handle all the business stuff and that’s where I’ve been going every day for the past two weeks. I’ve just been… working with him.” 

 

His mother was quiet for a few seconds after he stopped talking, staring pensively at the wall to the right of Matt’s head, looking deep in thought. He was about to poke her and ask if she’d been listening at all when she spoke up, suddenly turning her head to look at him. “And he’s the only person you’ve ever seen at that shop? The only one that’s ever been there?”

 

“Yeah,” Matt nodded. “It’s crazy, right? That he could run that whole place by himself and hate doing most of it? He didn’t even have an application for me when I told him I wanted a job! It’s like he planned on running it on his own forever!”

 

His mom was staring at him and grinning, but Matt had the distinct feeling that it had nothing to do with the words that had just come out of his mouth. It was a secretive smile, as if she knew something that he didn’t and she hadn’t quite made up her mind on whether or not she was going to share. He waited for her to say something, to tease him for being an idiot, at least—because she had clearly figured something out that he’d probably never even thought of but she just sat there and smiled at him, now laughing softly under her breath.

 

“What?” he asked once he couldn’t take the silence or the suspense anymore, sticking his bottom lip out in a pout. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

 

“You’re a bit of an idiot, Matthew,” she said fondly, and there it was. He wasn’t going to argue with her, because there was maybe a chance she was right, but he still didn’t know what he was missing. 

 

“Just tell me,” he huffed, bringing his arms up to cross over his chest. “Clearly you’ve figured something out, so just tell me what it is.” 

 

She laughed again and shook her head, leaning forward to kiss his forehead as she slid out of her seat and walked back around the island, picking up a recipe book that she’d probably been looking at earlier before he tried to sneak past. “That tugging feeling, deep in your chest? It felt like it was coming from your heart, right? Like it was trying to show you some sort of passion you hadn’t discovered yet?” 

 

“Right,” Matt said, nodding slowly. That was a good way to describe it, actually, like it was trying to show him something he hadn’t fallen in love with yet. Because it seemed to come from the same place that his love for the ocean came from, that deep, secretive place in his chest where he kept his admiration for all his favorite things. But he’d never quite been able to figure out what it was that damn tug thought he was missing, what it was trying to show him. Because it certainly wasn’t flowers; he still didn’t give much of a shit about those, no matter how much Shiro seemed to like them. And it wasn’t running a business, either, because as fun as it was to run the register and balance the books, it wasn’t something Matt wanted to be doing for the rest of his life. So what  _ was  _ it? What was it about that shop that kept drawing him back, over and over again?

 

“I think I know what it was trying to show you, honey,” she said, shaking her head again as if she couldn’t quite believe what was happening. “I just can’t believe you haven’t figured it out yet.”

 

“Figured  _ what _ out?” Matt asked, dangerously close to whining as he pouted at her. He just wanted to know! Why did she have to make it such a big deal? 

 

“Your soulmate, Matthew,” she told him, exasperated. “That feeling was leading you to your soulmate. That’s one of the ways it happens, you know. It’s not how your father and I found each other, but I’ve heard about it before.” 

 

“My… What?” Matt asked, reeling. His  _ soulmate?  _ Really?

 

“Just think about it,” his mom said, reaching across the counter to pat his hand comfortingly. “There’s nothing else at that shop that particularly interests you, right? You like the ocean, not flowers. There’s no other reason for you to be led there, but there’s no mistaking that’s where the tug wants you to go. And there’s only ever been one other person there, this Shiro fellow. So, he’s your soulmate. It’s as simple as that.” 

 

Matt laid his head down on the island as he thought about it, pressing his hands against his eyes. She was absolutely right. There was no other reason for that fucking tug to want him to go into that shop, to be so goddamn  _ persistent _ that he stop in front of it and go inside. There wasn’t even another reason for the tug to  _ exist, _ other than to lead him to his soulmate. It made perfect sense, and his mom was right. He was a fucking  _ idiot  _ for not realizing it before. 

 

But if he and Shiro were soulmates, did that mean Shiro felt the tug, too? Did that mean that everything in Shiro’s world felt orderly and at peace when the two of them were together like it did for Matt? Did that mean that Shiro had already  _ figured it out? _

 

Matt shot up straight again at that thought, looking at his mom with wide eyes. “Do you think he knows?” 

 

“I don’t know, honey,” she laughed, waving a hand at him. “ Why don’t you go to work and find out?” 

 

“But what if he doesn’t know and then I tell him? What if he’s disappointed that  _ I’m  _ his soulmate? He’s so… so passionate and sweet and kind and amazing, and… I don’t belong with him!”

 

“Matt, sweetheart,” his mom said, clicking her tongue at him as she came around the island again and pulled him into a hug, petting his hair. “None of that. Negative thinking gets you nowhere, remember? Ask him about it or don’t, but don’t assume he doesn’t want you, or that you’re not right for him. The universe put you together for a reason, and the universe is never wrong.” 

 

Matt took a moment to process what she said before nodding, pulling back so he could look at her. “Okay. Thanks.” 

 

“You don’t have to thank me, honey,” she smiled, brushing his hair out of his face with a loving smile. “Just remember, everyone in life has their passion. Shiro’s is obviously his flowers and his shop, but something tells me you haven’t had much time to talk about your own. So, talk to him about it, show him what makes you, you, and I’m sure he’ll be just as enamored with your passion as you are with his.” 

 

Matt felt himself blush softly but nodded, giving his mom another hug before slipping off the stool and running to the door. “Bye, mom! Thanks for the help!”

 

“You’re welcome, Matthew! Have fun at work!”

 

Matt didn’t stop running when he got out the door, didn’t stop running all the way to the shop. He was excited, nervous, unsure, and although he wasn’t normally one for running it felt nice to use his energy for something. Sure, he was sweaty and out of breath by the time he blew through the flower shop doors, earning a curious but amused look from Shiro, but he felt better than he would have if he walked the whole way and let his nervousness build and build and build. It was hard to focus on the things that scared him when he was trying to remember how to breathe, so it turned out to be a good way to keep his mind off of things. But now that he was here, face-to-face with Shiro, he felt all of his feelings come rushing back full force, almost strong enough to knock him off his feet. 

 

“Hey,” he panted, closing his eyes and leaning over as he tried to catch his breath and clear his head, pushing everything away. “Sorry I’m late.”

 

“It’s okay,” Shiro laughed, coming over to pat his back and hand him a water bottle. “You didn’t have to run all the way here. I told you that you could come in whenever.” 

 

“I was just… talking to my mom,” Matt said breathlessly, sitting down in the middle of the floor and trying to ignore the wave of sparks that rushed across the skin the second Shiro touched him, making the tattoo on his shoulder tingle. He hadn’t thought about his tattoo in a while—years, probably—but now it made perfect sense. He’d always known it was his soulmark, meant to act as a hint that would help lead him to his soulmate, but he had clearly never connected it to Shiro until just now. 

 

It was a fairly large tattoo on his left shoulder blade, some type of flower that Matt had never taken the time to identify. Shiro could probably tell him what kind of flower it was if he asked, but just the thought of showing Shiro his soulmark made him dizzy. They were soulmates, so one could argue that Shiro  _ deserved  _ to see it, but what if he had no idea that the two of them were soulmates and seeing Matt’s tattoo helped him connect the dots, somehow? 

 

He couldn’t figure out why he felt so sick at the thought of Shiro knowing about them, but he just felt like he wasn’t ready. It felt like he didn’t know Shiro well enough, wasn’t familiar with him, didn’t know how Shiro felt about him or what he knew, and it made him anxious. He hadn’t had enough time to process the thought of them being destined, and he needed to take it one step at a time. He would just… wait and see if Shiro said anything, wait for Shiro to bring it up first, and if enough time passed and it was obvious that Shiro truly didn’t know, then… Matt would cross that bridge when they came to it. 

 

* * *

 

“I think we should take a day off,” Matt announced almost a week later, leaning against the counter as he watched Shiro sweep the floor. There was always an obscene amount of dirt covering the white tile floor at any given point, no matter how many times or how religiously Shiro swept, and Matt really wasn’t sure why he kept trying. 

 

Shiro was just like that, though, as Matt had figured out. He was crazy diligent and dedicated and determined—something he had learned through observation, because if Matt hadn’t spent enough time creepily staring at Shiro  _ before, _ now that he knew they were soulmates it had only gotten worse. 

 

He was just curious, okay? He wanted to learn more about him, wanted to get to know him, and if Shiro noticed his increased amount of questioning and staring, he didn’t mention it. He just answered every one of Matt’s questions happily, kept watering plants and trimming limbs and sweeping the floor as Matt stood behind the deserted front counter and watched, memorizing everything he saw and storing it away for later. 

 

So far he’d learned that Shiro was Japanese, twenty-three years old, a Pisces, and a terrible cook. He had an older brother and a little sister that lived back in Japan with his parents, and he had a dog named Sans and a cat named Macklemore back in his tiny apartment that didn’t technically allow pets. He didn’t leave the house much other than to go to work, and his only friend was a grumpy looking wet cat of a man (he’d seen pictures) named Keith that lived in the next town over. 

 

Matt had taken the past week to get to know Shiro, to ask about all the little things he’d never need to know, and he had grown more comfortable with the thought of them being together, being  _ destined  _ to be together. Because quite honestly Shiro was perfect and adorable and everything Matt could have ever asked for, and he couldn’t imagine  _ not  _ spending every day of his life at Shiro’s side, soulmate or not. 

 

But for all the talking they’d done, Matt still hadn’t really told Shiro anything about himself. And it wasn’t for Shiro’s lack of trying, Matt just… didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t used to having to describe himself to other people, wasn’t used to needing to have answers to questions like what his favorite movie or color or animal or book was. Most of his answers ended up being an unsure, “Uh, I don’t know,” and Shiro would let out a soft laugh and shake his head and turn back to whatever he was doing, and the opportunity would be lost. So, Matt was  _ hoping  _ that things might go a bit better, might be a bit  _ easier, _ if he showed Shiro the thing he was more in love with than anything else; the ocean. He figured that if he started with the biggest thing, all the smaller things would come to him a bit quicker. 

 

Hence why he was bringing up them taking the day off, because Shiro had the damn flower shop open every day of the week

 

“Why? Am I working you too hard?” Shiro asked, looking at Matt with a genuinely concerned expression, as if he was forcing Matt to show up every day all day and spend time with him. 

 

“No, no, no, nothing like that,” Matt said, shaking his head. “I just think it’d be fun to take the day off and do something, you know? You hardly ever get out, and… I wanna take you somewhere.” 

 

“You wanna take me somewhere?” Shiro asked, furrowing his eyebrows adorably. “Where?”

 

“It’s a surprise, silly,” Matt said, rolling his eyes. “Just… Close up shop for a day? Pretty please?”

 

Shiro let out a sigh and stopped sweeping, putting his palm over the end of the handle and resting his cheek on the back of his hand, making his face squish up and look funny. “I suppose it would be pretty fun to take the day off.”

 

“Exactly! So let’s do it.”

 

“Does it matter what day?” Shiro asked.

 

“Nope,” Matt said, shaking his head. “Just pick one and we’ll go.”

 

“Friday,” Shiro decided, giving Matt a smile. “I pick Friday.”

 

“Friday it is,” Matt smiled back, excited butterflies erupting in his chest at the thought. Hopefully it just wasn’t a complete disaster.

 

\---

 

Friday came faster than Matt was expecting, and he barely had time to prepare himself before he was stopping his car in front of the flower shop and Shiro was climbing into his passenger seat, an excited smile on his face as he set his bag on the floor between his feet. 

 

The surprise had kind of been ruined by the fact that Matt had needed to tell Shiro what to bring so he could be prepared, but Shiro still rambled on and checked out the window every five minutes as if he’d never been to the beach before, even though Matt knew for a fact he had. But it was so fucking cute that Matt couldn’t bring himself to question it, just tried desperately to focus on the road and not the bright, starry-eyed look on Shiro’s face, which was a lot harder than it sounded. 

 

By the time they got there Shiro was practically fucking  _ vibrating, _ and Matt had barely stopped the car before Shiro was jumping out and racing across the sand towards the shore line. Matt was a bit slower to follow, grabbing his bag (and Shiro’s, which he had left behind in his haste) and trailing across the sand at a leisurely pace, closing his eyes and enjoying the warm sand between his toes and the feel of the sun on his skin. 

 

By the time he made it to where Shiro had landed, he was surprised to find that he’d stopped short of the actual water and was instead sat happily in the sand, pushing it over his legs to bury them before pulling them out again and repeating the process.

“You’re not gonna go in the water?” Matt asked, giving him a look. The sand was nice, sure, but nobody came to the beach for the fucking  _ sand. _ They came for the ocean, the water, the waves. 

 

“Me? No,” Shiro said, shaking his head. “I hate the ocean. It’s scary.” 

 

Matt tried not to be offended, because he couldn’t say he held Shiro’s passion in a particularly high regard, but he still was, a little bit. Scary? The ocean wasn’t fucking scary! Okay, well, maybe it was  _ a tiny bit _ the deeper you went but it was more  _ cool  _ than  _ scary, _ by far. 

 

“The ocean’s my favorite thing in the entire world,” Matt said, plopping down beside him with a huff. 

 

“Really?” Shiro asked, looking over at him in surprise. “I didn’t know that.”

 

“Yeah,” Matt said, nodding as he looked out across the uneven surface of the water, watching the waves dance this way and that. “I’ve got a degree in marine biology.”

 

“Really?” Shiro said again, still staring at the side of Matt’s head. “How come you don’t have a job doing that, then?”

Matt shook his head and didn’t answer, holding his hand out to Shiro. “Come on, swim with me. I’ll show you all the cool things there are to love about the ocean.” 

 

So Shiro took his hand and Matt lead him into the water, and he spent at least an hour dragging Shiro around and pointing out everything from tiny fish to coral reefs they could barely see off in the distance to shiny shells buried on the seafloor to wave patterns that crashed into them and almost made them lose their footing more times than they wanted to admit. Shiro probably didn’t care about any of it but he let Matt talk and talk and talk—let him ramble and sigh and even flop back into the water a few times, overwhelmed by how much he fucking cared about all of it—and wore a tiny little smile on his face the whole time, as if there was nothing in this world he’d rather do than sit there and listen to Matt talk.

 

And by the time Matt’s rambling finally came to a stop and they made their way back onto dry land, shivering from the cold, Shiro kept looking at him with this… this look on his face that made Matt want to stop where he was and grab Shiro’s cheeks and kiss him until they both ran out of air. 

 

But he didn’t do that, he just sat back down beside their bags and stripped off his shirt and laid back on the sand, letting it warm him from the outside in as he remembered what his mom said about Shiro being enamored with him once he knew more about what was important to him and thought that she might have been right. He only hoped that Shiro really was enamored with him and didn’t just think he was a nerd, because that would be embarrassing. 

 

“Thanks for bringing me out here,” Shiro said as he copied Matt and laid down beside him, his own shirt thrown somewhere behind them. It was probably a good thing that Matt was laying down or else he was almost positive he’d be staring at Shiro’s chest, drooling over his abs. The shirts Shiro was so fond of wearing really left little to the imagination, but he was  _ positive  _ the real thing had to be better than whatever he could see through his shirt. 

 

“You’re welcome,” Matt smiled, turning his head to the side to look at him. “I’m glad you let me.” 

 

“I guess I don’t have to be at the flower shop  _ every _ day,” Shiro grinned. Matt grinned back and rolled his eyes, his traitorous mind thinking once again about how nice it’d be to just… lean forward and kiss Shiro and be allowed to do it. He let out an inaudible huff and sat up, staring up at the sky in an attempt to clear his head as he crossed his legs beneath him, his train of thought immediately derailed by the feeling of Shiro’s fingertips brushing along his skin, featherlight over the lines of the tattoo on his shoulder. 

 

Matt looked over his shoulder at him, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Shiro was just staring at his shoulder, a concentrated look on his face as he traced along the shape of the petals, his head tilted the tiniest bit to the side. 

 

“Shiro…?” Matt asked, a little concerned. He wasn’t necessarily  _ against _ what was happening, but it was pretty out of character for Shiro, and he didn’t quite understand  _ why _ it was happening. Shiro lifted his fingers from Matt’s skin, drawing his bottom lip into his mouth and furrowing his own brow, not answering Matt before he put his fingers down again, this time his touch accompanied by a tingling, electric shock.

 

Matt jolted slightly but didn’t pull away, watching Shiro’s face as the tingling in his shoulder increased, getting to the point where it was almost uncomfortable. He didn’t know how to decipher the look on Shiro’s face, and he didn’t want to break the strange silence that had fallen over them, so he sat and watched until the tingling seemed to plateau and Shiro sat up beside him. “A red carnation,” he said, words which meant almost nothing to Matt. Is that what his tattoo was? A carnation? And since when had it been red?

 

“Red?” Matt asked, looking over his shoulder at his tattoo the best he could, somehow surprised to see that his flower was in fact no longer bare lines of black and was now saturated with a deep, deep red. Matt looked back at Shiro in shock, watching as he twisted his torso so Matt could get a good look at his right shoulder, where an intricately drawn tattoo of an ocean wave was being slowly flooded by color, shades of blue and grey and white, seeping in between lines of black. 

 

Matt watched the color move for a few moments, breathless, before Shiro turned back and looked at him, an unreadable look in his eyes. “We’re soulmates…?” 

 

It almost wasn’t phrased as a question, caught somewhere in between certainty and uncertainty, but Matt gave him a slow nod anyway. “Y-Yeah. Um… We are.” 

 

Shiro was quiet for a moment before he slowly reached out and took Matt’s hand, a smile spreading across his lips. “So  _ that’s  _ what that feeling was.” 

 

“You—You felt it, too?” Matt asked, carefully curling his fingers around Shiro’s palm. “That weird tugging feeling?”

 

“Yeah,” Shiro nodded, laughing softly as he nodded. “ _ Yeah. _ I just—I started feeling it a long time ago, around the time I was discharged from the military, and when I decided to follow it it lead me to this abandoned, broken down flower shop, and I thought—I thought it was just a weird thing telling me to, I don’t know—follow my  _ dreams _ and open a flower shop of my own. But then every time I’d leave, the tugging feeling would come back, and I couldn’t help but feel like I was still missing something.” Shiro laughed again, tugging Matt’s hand higher and pressing a soft kiss to the back of his palm. “And don’t get me wrong—I love the flower shop, I really do, but… I’m glad it was leading me to you.” 

 

Matt was almost positive there was a huge, dumb smile spread across his face in that moment but he didn’t care, couldn’t bring himself to care as he leaned forward and did what he wanted to do and pulled Shiro into a gentle kiss, the barest brushing of lips that still sent shivers racing down his spine. They paused for a moment before the both pushed forward again, meeting each other in the middle as they pressed their lips together more solidly, the sun shining down on them as their lips came together again and again and again. 

 

Shiro brought his hand up to cup Matt’s cheek as he pulled away, the softest look on his face as he brushed his thumb along Matt’s skin. “How long have you known…?”

 

“A few weeks,” Matt mumbled, shrugging. “That day I was late and ran all the way to work…? I was talking about it with my mom. She’s really the one that figured it out, not me.”

 

“How come you didn’t tell me?” Shiro asked, but he didn’t seem offended or upset, just curious. 

 

“I was scared,” Matt admitted, eyes darting away from Shiro’s. “It was too good to be true, almost. You just seemed so perfect and amazing and… I was afraid you would be upset if you knew I was the one you were stuck with.”

 

Shiro made an upset noise, gripping Matt’s chin and forcing him to look at him, although his touch was gentle. “Hey. I don’t want you to feel like that, or think like that, or ever believe that could be true, okay? The universe put us together, yeah? And the universe is never wrong. And I for one am very pleased with the universe’s decision. I  _ want  _ to be with you. I couldn’t ask for a better soulmate.” 

 

Matt blushed softly and nodded, smiling as he leaned forward and kissed Shiro again, soft and sweet and sure. “Yeah,” he said quietly when he pulled back, a pleased smile stretched across his face. “I think the universe made a pretty good choice.” 

**Author's Note:**

> i hope u enjoyed!! comments and kudos greatly appreciated <3


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